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Page 25 of 36 J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:31 I http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2019.21

effective PanC management with minimal patient distress. Bitter melon (Momordica charantia), a dietary
agent, is actively being examined for its anti-cancer efficacy against a panel of malignancies. Recent data
from our group highlights the anti-PanC potential of bitter melon juice (BMJ); its role in PanC-cancer
stem cell (CSC) self-renewal/ kinetics and gemcitabine (GEM) resistance in PanC cells. Combinations for
BMJ and GEM in vitro also showed synergism in AsPC1 and synergistic effect in BxPC3 PanC cells. As
patient-derived xenografts are gaining importance, we next assessed the efficacy of BMJ and GEM alone,
or in combination; tumor growth was significantly inhibited in all treated groups with GEM and Combo
displaying comparable efficacies followed by BMJ. Notably, tumor regrowth determination with subsequent
treatment washout period showed maximum tumor regrowth in GEM group comparable to controls;
however, BMJ consistently showed a prolonged inhibitory effect and Combo group remained close to BMJ,
suggesting no apparent antagonistic interference. In mechanistic evaluations, in tumor tissues, minimal
expression levels of Ki67 and VEGF were observed in BMJ and Combo groups by study end compared
to controls and GEM groups. Together, these results show strong BMJ efficacy as a single agent as well as
being a perfect combinatorial candidate with GEM for PanC management and treatment. Supported by
NCI R01 grant CA195708.

Biography
Rajesh Agarwal completed his Ph.D. from Lucknow University, India in 1981. He is currently Professor
and Vice Chairman, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado. He has over 360
peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters, has been an invited speaker across the globe, has
over three hundred presentations in national and international scientific meetings, is an active member of
several National Institutes of Health, USA grant review committee, and is an editorial board member of
several lead cancer journals.

32. The mitochondrial-targeted compound SS-31 improves cachexia by increasing muscle
energetics

3
1,2
1,2
1,2
Riccardo Ballarò , Marc Beltrà , Paola Costelli , Hazel Szeto , Fabio Penna 1,2
1 Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, Experimental Medicine and Clinical Pathology Unit,
University of Turin, Turin 10126, Italy.
2 Interuniversity Institute of Myology, Milano 20132, Italy.
3 Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.

[1]
Cachexia is a complex syndrome that frequently complicates the management of cancer patients . This
syndrome is characterized by progressive wasting of body mass, mainly due to the depletion of both
[2]
adipose and muscle tissue . Together with increased protein degradation, also mitochondrial impairment
[3]
likely contributes to muscle wasting . Indeed, alterations of mitochondrial morphology and function have
[3]
been observed in the skeletal muscle of tumor-bearing animals with cachexia .
The aim of the present study was to investigate if selective targeting of mitochondria with SS-31 could
exert positive effects on muscle wasting in mice bearing the C26 tumor treated or not with chemotherapy
(oxaliplatin+5-fluorouracil; C26 and C26 OXFU, respectively).

Both C26 hosts and C26 OXFU mice showed anorexia, body weight loss and decreased muscle mass and
strength. In the C26 hosts, SS-31 partially prevented body wasting, anorexia and muscle mass. In the